poetry commentary terminology

Question 1

simile

Answer 1

she looks like a bird, nimble-fingered and light.

Question 2

metaphor

Answer 2

saying something is something else as an analogy

Question 3

alliteration

Answer 3

the repeated letters at the beginning of words

Question 4

verb

Question 5

adjective

Question 6

adverb

Answer 6

describes a verb eg she spoke quickly

Question 7

noun

Question 8

stanza

Question 9

verse

Question 10

free verse

Answer 10

poetry without a regular rhyme scheme or with no rhyming

Question 11

repetition

Question 12

personification

Question 13

emotive language

Question 14

rhyming couplet

Answer 14

a pair of lines that rhyme

Question 15

assonance

Answer 15

repetition of similar vowel sounds - creates a more musical inflection

Question 16

onomatopeia

Question 17

sibilance

Answer 17

’s’ sounds

Question 18

enjambment

Answer 18

continuation of a sentence over lines - slows it down, creates longer sentences, allows emphasis and double meaning eg the perseverence

Question 19

sonnet

Answer 19

romantic - 14 lines

Question 20

narrative

Question 21

hyperbole

Question 22

pathetic fallacy

Question 23

pronoun

Question 24

symbolism

Question 25

pun

Question 26

hyperbole

Question 27

euphemism

Question 28

connotation

Question 29

extended metaphor

Question 30

oxymoron

Question 31

juxtaposition

Question 32

iambic pentameter

Question 33

caesura

Question 34

synonym

Question 35

superlative

Answer 35

eg the best

Question 36

preposition

Question 37

paradox

Question 38

litotes

Question 39

metonymy

Answer 39

Metonymy is a type of figurative language in which an object or concept is referred to not by its own name, but instead by the name of something closely associated with it. For example, in “Wall Street prefers lower taxes” eg heart for love

Question 40

gerund

Answer 40

swimming, loving, cramming, destroying - verbs in the present participle form

Question 41

homophone

Answer 41

pronounced the same but differs in meaning eg Goole and Ghoul

Question 42

colloquial

Answer 42

informal

Question 43

anaphora

Answer 43

the repetition of a word at successive clauses

Question 44

antithesis

Answer 44

contrasting two ideas or images - juxtaposing images

Question 45

anapaest

Answer 45

The first two syllables are short and unstressed, followed by a third syllable that is long and stressed.
The rhythmic pattern of an anapaest can be represented as “da-da-DUM”.

Question 46

epithet

Answer 46

an adjective or phrase expressing a quality or attribute regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned:

Question 47

parallelism

Answer 47

sentences have the same grammatical structure
- usually combined with anaphora
- usually combined with antithesis

Question 48

extended metaphor

Answer 48

a metaphor that is used throughout an extract
–> creates an analogy through an image

Question 49

motif

Answer 49

a repeated theme, idea or image

Question 50

imagery

Answer 50

strong description of an image, invoking the senses
(eg warming her pearls uses a lot of tactile imagery)
TYPES
tactile
visual
auditory
olfactory (smell)
gustatory (taste)

Question 51

plosive

Answer 51

‘p’, ‘d’, ‘t’, ‘b’ and the hard ‘c’ sounds - harsher sounds/ creates a shocking or forceful effect in poetry, or creates emphasis